Daily Archives: August 11, 2016

The Splat: Coloring the ’90s (Nickelodeon) (Adult Coloring Book)

By: Random House

Rating: 5 of 5

My kids were growing up in the 90’s and we watched their television shows together. After homework and chores were done, they each got to choose a show to watch and it was pretty much always a show on Nickelodeon. Seeing The Splat coloring book show up was a trip down memory lane for me. Almost all of our favorites are in the book including: Real Monsters, Angry Beavers, CatDog, Hey Arnold, Ren and Stimpy, Rocket Power, Rocko’s Modern Life, Rugrats, and the Wild Thornberrys.

The book includes 47 designs. There seems to have been a team of illustrators as there are several styles. Some of the designs have thicker lines and a more open feel while others have thin lines and are considerably more detailed. I like all of the various styles and levels of detail as it makes the book that much more fun to color.

This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring mediums. I will list the coloring mediums I used for testing in the comments section below. These are also the materials I use for most of my coloring.

47 Designs based on Nickelodeon cartoon series from the 1990’s

Printed on one side of the page with a quote on the back of the page

Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly rough, non-perforated

Glue Bound

Most designs merge into the binding area

Book opens fairly flat for coloring by breaking or creasing the spine heavily.

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper. I suggest using a blotter page of card stock or several sheets of paper to keep ink from seeping through to the pages below.

Water-based markers, gel pens, and India ink pens do not bleed through the paper.

Colored pencils work very well with this paper. I got great pigment from oil and wax base pencils. I was able to layer the same color for deeper pigment, layer multiple colors, and blend easily using a pencil style stick blender.

Color the Classics: The Snow Queen: A Frozen Fantasy Coloring Book

By: Jae-Eun Lee

Rating: 5 of 5

This is the fifth storybook coloring book I have purchased by Jae Eun Lee. It may be the last in the series but I have hopes that there will be more books from this talented artist in the coming years.

I had some issues with the very first book in the series (Anne of Green Gables.) I felt that it had too many story pages as opposed to coloring pages but each book since then has had a much better mix. This book has the best mix by far.

I also like the way the artist has included parts of the story into the coloring pages rather than taking up a page by itself. While I prefer the design pages, the story pages have very elaborate designs to color as well.

In The Snow Queen, the mix is 17 story pages and 53 design pages for a total of 70 actual storybook pages. There are also four pages of thumbnails of the images and five other pages (preface, forward, and title pages and a page following the end of the story and thumbnails) which have designs that you can color.

The designs are in the same beautiful and elegant style that I have come to expect from this artist. The lines are flowing and the designs are detailed. They are not overly intricate or difficult to color.

The story portion of the coloring book gives a brief synopsis of the story but it would be best to have a story book to read along with as you color the pictures.

This is what I found as I colored in this book and tested my coloring medium on the paper. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I used for testing and which I use for most of my coloring projects.

70 pages of Designs and Story Book Illustrations plus extra pages that can be colored as well

Printed on both sides of page

Pages are heavyweight, slightly smooth and non-perforated

Glue Binding

Some Designs merge into the binding

Some Designs spread across two pages

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page. If you use this medium, you will ruin the design on the back of the page.

Water-based markers, gel pens and India ink pens do not bleed through. Gel pens do require additional drying time.

Colored pencils did well with this paper. I found that for the most part both oil and wax based pencils worked well for good pigment and layering the same or multiple colors. My one issue was that neither were great for blending using a pencil style blending stick. The pigment smeared a bit but not as evenly as I would have hoped. Wax-based pencils did better at blending than did oil-based colors but both were acceptable for my use.